Richard Linklater Exits The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Although a number of actors very recently signed on for the project, The Hollywood Reporter today brings word that director Richard Linklater is departing the Warner. Bros. remake The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Linklater will instead focus on his “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, now titled That’s What I’m Talking About.

“It’s none of the same characters,” Linklater told ComingSoon.net about the film some years back. “It’s just my own spiritual sequel like, ‘Oh, these are my college years, the way ‘Dazed’ was my high school, this is my college.’ So that’s all, but it’s not about revisiting those exact same characters. But I do have this kinda fun college comedy about the first weekend of college.”

The Incredible Mr. Limpet, meanwhile, is slated to star Zach Galifianakis, Josh Gad, Jon Hamm, Kevin Hart, Danny McBride, Sarah Silverman and Key & Peele. A remake of the 1964 Don Knotts film classic (in turn based on the novel by Theodore Pratt), The Incredible Mr. Limpet follows milquetoast Henry Limpet, who experiences his fondest wish and is transformed into a fish. The new version of the tale sets the action in present day and has Galifianakis’ Limpet attempting to save the fish population of a small beach town.

Linklater was to direct from his own adapted screenplay and the plan had been to make use of a rotoscoped animation style similar to his previous Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly. Without Linklater at the helm, however, it is unknown what route The Incredible Mr. Limpet may now take, but check back for updates as they become available.